The report on state-level employment and unemployment for June suggests a fairly stable labor market in Arkansas. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7% while measures of household and payroll employment both continued to show modest rates of expansion. The national unemployment rate had previously been reported to have declined 0.1% to 4.1% in June.

The gradual uptrend in Arkansas unemployment rate over the past year (+0.3%) has reflected a steady increase in the number of unemployed, with enough growth in employment and the labor force to maintain a constant unemployment rate since March. In June, the number of unemployed was up by 419 and the number of employed rose by 121. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has risen by nearly 5,000 (4,886) and the number of employed is up by over 10,000 (10,049).

The stability of the unemployment rate this year is mirrored by Arkansas’ labor force participation rate, which has been steady at 58.4% since February. Nevertheless, over the past two years, Arkansas participation rate has been trending higher, while the U.S. participation rate has declined slightly.

Payroll Employment
Arkansas Nonfarm payroll employment expanded by 1,200 in June (seasonally adjusted). Not-seasonally adjusted figures showed a decline for the month, but that was largely due to the seasonal shedding of education-related jobs. After seasonal adjustment, changes in state and local government employment, as well as private-sector education employment, were nearly unchanged for the month, suggesting that the seasonal effect was typical.

Health Services employment was the largest contributor to the June increase, adding 1,300 jobs. Other sectors showed mixed changes. Expanding sectors included Durables Manufacturing, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Leisure and Hospitality Services. Declines showed up for Construction, Financial Services, and Professional & Business Services (mostly in the Administrative and Support category).

The decline in Construction employment continues a trend that began last summer after employment in that sector reached a record-high level in August 2024.

Other sectors have been fairly steady or increasing over the past 12 months. Employment Education and Health Services (mostly Health) continues to be the largest driver of job growth.

The 12-month growth rate for Arkansas payroll employment was approximately 1.3%, compared to 1.1% for the U.S. Compared to pre-Covid employment in February 2020, Arkansas employment has expanded by 6.7%, while that of the U.S. has increased by 4.9%.

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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.

The latest report on state employment suggests that Arkansas labor markets . The unemployment rate remained at 4.7% and employment increased only slightly.

The components of the unemployment rate changed little from April to May. The number of unemployed was essentially unchanged (-43) and the number of employed was up by 658—about half of the average monthly increase over the previous 12 months. The labor force increased by 615. None of these changes were sufficient to change the unemployment or labor force participation rates.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1,600 from April to May, partly offsetting the (revised) 2,800 decline in the previous month (seasonally adjusted data). Employment declines in Construction, Wholesale Trade, and Other Services were offset by gains in other sectors, particularly Leisure & Hospitality Services. The surge in Leisure & Hospitality employment (+2,300) reversed a sharp decline in April (-2,000), revealing that the April contraction was likely a seasonal anomaly. Other sectors showing notable gains were Nondurables Manufacturing and Transportation & Utilities.

Employment in four sectors—Construction, Wholesale Trade, Information Services, and Other Services—have shown year-over year declines, while all other sectors show increases from May 2024. Education & Health Services has displayed the largest gains, with notable increases in Retail Trade, Leisure and Hospitality Services, Financial Services, and Professional & Business Services. In the latter category, gains in Management of Companies & Enterprises were offset by declining employment in Administration & Support services, with the net gain coming from Professional, Scientific & Technical subsector.

From May 2024 through May 2025, we’ve seen a total increase of 18,300 jobs—a gain of approximately 1.3%. Over the same period, U.S. nonfarm payrolls expanded by 1.1%.

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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.

The latest state-level report on employment and unemployment was unremarkable in most respects, but did hint at ongoing weakness in the state’s labor markets. The unemployment rate was unchanged from March, but at 3.7% it was 0.3 percentage points higher than a year ago. The unemployment rate for the U.S. was also unchanged at 4.2% for the month—and also up 0.3 percentage points from April 2024.

The gradual increase in Arkansas’ unemployment rate has been driven by persistent increases in the number of unemployed. Interrupted by only a slight decline in December, the number of unemployed has risen by 4,855 over the past 12 months. The number of employed increased by 1,406 in April, suggesting that the slight decline recorded for March was anomalous. As a result of the increases in both employed and unemployed, the labor force expanded by 1,519 for the month.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 1,200 from March to April (seasonally adjusted). Before seasonal adjustment, employment increased for the month, but in several categories the gains were smaller than typically expected for April. For example, not-seasonally adjusted employment in Leisure and Hospitality Services increased by 2,100 jobs. After adjusting for seasonality the change was a decline of 1,800.

More generally, the seasonally adjusted changes in payroll employment were mixed. In addition to Leisure & Hospitality Services, there was also a substantial decline in Nondurables Manufacturing. Other goods-producing sectors saw increases for the month, as did Professional & Business Services (exclusively in the category of Administrative and Support Services) and Education & Health Services.

Over the past 12 months, payroll employment has increased by 17,800—about 1.3%. Over the same period, U.S. payroll employment increased by 1.2%.

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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.

The state-level report on employment and unemployment shows some unwelcome weakness in Arkansas labor markets last month. The unemployment rate ticked up from 3.6% to 3.7%, while household employment showed a slight decline. The report on nonfarm payroll employment also showed a slight decline (seasonally-adjusted), although the data for February were revised higher, implying a net increase from the level reported a month ago.

The increase in the unemployment rate was driven by small changes in the underlying data. Household employment was practically unchanged, declining by only 242 (less than 0.02%). Although the downturn was small, it represented the first negative month since April of 2020 (recently revised data). The number of unemployed increased by 502 in March—the third consecutive monthly increase, with the total for the first three months of the year increasing by 1,627. As a result of the tiny decline in employment an the increase in unemployment, the labor force expanded by 260. The labor force participation rate remained stable at 58.4%

The national unemployment rate had previously been reported as rising 0.1 percentage points to 4.2 in March. Arkansas’ rate remains lower than the U.S., but the difference has narrowed to the point that it is not statistically significant.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment also experienced a small decline, -200 (seasonally adjusted). The data for February were revised higher by 2,500 for a net gain since our report last month. The not-seasonally adjusted data showed an increase for the month, but that was largely attributable to gains in Construction Employment and Leisure & Hospitality Services, both of which tend to experience seasonally increases in the springtime. After seasonal adjustment, the changes in both sectors were positive, but of much smaller in magnitude. Retail Trade also tends to pick up in the spring months, but was up by 600 jobs in the not-seasonally adjusted data and was down by 700 jobs after seasonal adjustment.

Although the total showed a small net decline, we saw strong increases in Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, and Education & Health Services. Professional & Business Services declined from March, offsetting relatively large increases of from the previous three months.

Since February of 2020, total Nonfarm Payroll Employment has expanded by 87,800, a gain of 6.8%. Over the same period, U.S. payroll employment has increased by 4.7%.

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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.

The monthly report on employment and unemployment by state for February showed stable conditions in Arkansas’ labor markets. For example, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6%. By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up from 4.0% in January to 4.1% in February.

The Arkansas labor force expanded in February by 1,345, with an increases of 385 employed and 960 unemployed. Monthly labor force growth has been positive every month since July 2021. Employment growth has been consistently positive since the economy was emerging from the pandemic in 2020.

Over the past 12 months, the labor force has expanded by 22,264, with increases of 18,205 employed and 4,059 unemployed. The unemployment rate reflects the increase in the number of unemployed, having risen from 3.4% to 3.6% over the past year.

The labor force participation rate was unchanged for the month at 58.4—which was 0.4 percentage points higher than in February 2024. The U.S. participation rate has declined by 0.2 percentage points over the same 12-month period.

Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment was unchanged from January to February, although the January increase was revised down from +3,000 to +2,000 (seasonally adjusted data). Employment in Retail Trade and Nondurables Manufacturing showed increases, but the other service-providing sectors showed a preponderance of monthly declines, including Professional & Business Services, Leisure & Hospitality Services, and Other Services. Employment in Transportation and Utilities was also down.

Over the past year, payroll employment is up by 18,400 jobs—approximately 1.4%. The year-over-year figures show that February’s weakness in service-sector growth is not indicative of the trend. Over the past 12 months, service-providing sectors have accounted for 17,400 net new jobs, with the remaining 1,000 job-increase found in the goods-producing sectors.

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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.